Brach looking to regain prime relief role

San Diego Padres catcher Nick Hundley watches manager Bud Black take the ball from San Diego Padres relief pitcher Brad Brach after Brach gave up a grand slam home run to New York Mets' Collin Cowgill in the seventh inning on Opening Day of a baseball game at Citi Field on Monday, April 1, 2013 in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
— AP

San Diego Padres catcher Nick Hundley watches manager Bud Black take the ball from San Diego Padres relief pitcher Brad Brach after Brach gave up a grand slam home run to New York Mets' Collin Cowgill in the seventh inning on Opening Day of a baseball game at Citi Field on Monday, April 1, 2013 in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
/ AP

You’d have to to pitch a small school like Monmouth University into an NCAA tournament alongside the likes of Arizona State, to claw your way to a major league roster as a 42nd-round draft pick, to get the call time and time again with someone like Andrew McCutchen looking to drive in runs.

Fight: It’s exactly what Pat Murphy saw in Brach when he gave his Sun Devils fits for seven innings in the playoffs six years ago, and it’s exactly what the Triple-A Tucson manager wanted to see again in the 27-year-old reliever as he searched for his game over a summer spent shuttling two and from the Pacific Coast League.

So, fight – like you always have, Murphy implored Brach when it appeared his confidence couldn’t sink any lower during one of four demotions to the minors

“That’s the part I talked to him about,” Murphy said of a sit-down with Brach earlier this summer. “Think about where you got yourself. Are you that same person that went from the 42nd round to the big leagues?”

“I just believed in him.”

The Padres still do, too – but it’s clear that Brach’s sophomore slump has cost him the premium spot he’d earned in the back of the bullpen a year ago while stranding 39 of the 46 runners he inherited, the second-best mark in the National League.

A year later, Brach has allowed half of the 22 runners he’s inherited to cross the plate. He’s also allowing more walks and hits per innings pitched than he did a year ago – 1.25 to 1.84 this year – and hitters are slugging nearly 100 points better this year as the 27-year-old reliever struggles to make adjustments to hitters gathering a book on the 6-foot-6 right-hander.

“I think the main thing with Brad is that when you get tenure, when you get service time, when you pitch in the majors, you don’t become a secret anymore,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “There’s a track record of guys facing Brad and there’s information on video or through hitting coaches about Brad. Brad, from here on out is not going to sneak up on anybody, and Brad has not adjusted back to the league just yet as far as what he needs to do to continue his success as a major league pitcher.”

That success was uncanny a year ago, especially in tight situations.

Sophomore Slump

Right-hander Brad Brach emerged as a go-to pitcher late in games for the Padres last year. He hasn’t been as effective during his second run through the National League, allowing half of the 22 inherited runners to score after stranding 39 of 46 a year ago, the second-best mark in the National League.